Basketball Recap: Rock Hill Falls Despite Big Games from Zaire Williams and Nigel Lightner

Rock Hill lost against Northwestern back in January of 2024 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Tuesday. The Rock Hill Bearcats fell to the Northwestern Trojans 59-54.

Nigel Lightner and Zaire Williams certainly did their best on Tuesday to avoid the loss. Lightner went 5 of 11 on his way to 15 points and three steals, while Williams went 6 for 12 en route to 13 points and eight rebounds. The dominant performance gave Williams a new career-high in points. The team also got some help courtesy of Deionne Robertson, who posted six points and five boards.

Even though they lost, Rock Hill smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 13 offensive boards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now pulled down at least 11 offensive rebounds in six consecutive games.

Northwestern can attribute much of their success to Jayshawn Reid, who went 8 of 10 en route to 18 points and five rebounds. Nolan McKinnon also deserves some recognition as he posted his first block of the season.

Rock Hill dropped their record down to 6-10 with the loss, which was their 13th straight on the road dating back to last season. As for Northwestern, their victory bumped their record up to 5-10.

Rock Hill didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 56-50 defeat against Catawba Ridge on the 17th. As for Northwestern, they will venture away from home to square off against Indian Land at 7:45 p.m. on January 21st. Indian Land is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 66 points per game this season.